Finances of public transport 'tragic', says Transport Min. Karamanlis

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Costas Karamanlis on Thursday described the finances of public transport companies as tragic, in an interview with SKAI TV.

He announced the in the next 15 days there will be efforts to reduce the waiting time in the Athens metro during rush hours, noting that the metro trains came every 10 minutes during the summer so that passengers were packed on the platforms.

Karamanlis said that his ministry is initially striving to avoid an increase in the road tax and is examining the possibility of incentives for the acquisition of "good" second-hand cars in order to renew the currently ageing fleet of cars circulating in the country.

He said that the prime minister will announced the package of measures planned by the government at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) on Saturday and explained that these works will be announced after an agreement with EU's agencies.

The same procedure will be followed and on Patras-Pyrgos motorway, he added.

Karamanlis also accused his ministry's previous leadership of not planning any new transport projects and focusing its efforts on finishing works launched by previous governments.